In its forthcoming national budget for 2007 the Norwegian
government will propose to the Parliament
(Stortinget) to cancel NOK 520 million of official debts
from Ecuador, Egypt, Jamaica, Peru and Sierra Leone.
The claims originate from the
Norwegian Ship Export Campaign (1976-80).
- This campaign represented a
development policy failure. As a creditor country Norway has a
shared responsibility for the debts that followed. In cancelling
these claims Norway takes the responsibility for allowing these
five countries to terminate their remaining repayments on these
debts, says Minister of International Development, Erik
Solheim.
The Government proposes that these
claims be cancelled unilaterally and unconditionally, without
budgetary allocation and without reporting the cancelled amounts as
Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the OECD. The debt
cancellation will, in other words, be additional to Norway’s
ordinary ODA.
Additional information is supplied
in the
attached fact
sheet.
